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"My husband & I just returned on Feb. 25, 2012 from one week at the Westin Playa Conchal. We both agree this is our favourite vacation ever. We typically travel at least twice a year to a new destination. Previously, an 11-day Royal Caribbean cruise had been our best vacation, but this trip topped it by far! I'll get the one, tiny little negative out of the way first & then fill you in on our amazing experience. On our 2nd last day of the trip, the Royal Service area (NOT the entire resort), lost water. So no water from the taps, toilets, showers, etc. This was from approximately noon till nearly 10 p.m. We just ended up staying by the pool until sunset & then ordered room service for dinner, since we felt too gross to go to one of the a la cartes for dinner (covered in sunscreen & smelling of the pool & ocean)! At the time, yes it sucked. Looking back on it now, it wasn't that big of a deal & I barely remember it.
ROYAL BEACH SERVICE If you're traveling without young kids, than PAY THE EXTRA $$ for royal service! It is worth every penny. The Royal Service area of the resort is like a mini resort within the larger one. We have two "towers" (only 3 storeys high), our own pool, restaurant & "beach club lounge". All adults only & ONLY for people who pay extra for Royal Service. You get a gold wrist band, whereas everyone else has green. This made it a very relaxing, peaceful & quiet vacation. Other perks are wi-fi in the whole Royal area, Pool Concierges (drinks & food can be ordered by these waiters & served to you poolside), Floor Concierges (like butlers who take care of your dinner reservations, special requests, questions & anything else you need help with), private restaurant for a buffet breakfast & a la carte lunch (if you don't order pool side), premium alcohols (JD, Grey Goose, Tanquerey, Johnnie Walker full range, etc.), and just the luxury of not having to lift a finger the whole week if you don't want to. Everyone always did everything for us. From the moment we arrived, check-in was a breeze as we were whisked off to our private area, served delicious mojitos & told to not worry about a thing & go have a nice lunch while the staff bring bags to our room & take care of things. Our favourite floor concierge was Ariel. He's SO sweet, attentive & a gentleman. Our favourite pool concierge is Nelson. He was also very attentive & a great sense of humour.
FOOD Very good quality ingredients & excellent flavours. Everything tasted amazing, from the five a la carte restaurants to the take-out pizza & pasta place. Room service was excellent too & always arrived within 30 minutes. My favourite a la carte was Cauri (French) & Bamboo (Asian Fusion). Surprisingly, we disliked Faisanella (Italian) the most, despite the rave reviews everyone else on Trip Advisor gives it! My favourite meal of the day was breakfast I think. Despite it being a buffet, it was excellent food options & not crowded, since we had a private restaurant in the Royal Section. I LOVED the mimiosa & bloody mary self-serve bar they had a breakfast. Great way to start a day - hehe :)
ACTIVITIES We spent every morning exploring what the resort had to offer. It is a MASSIVE place, as there is the hotel-resort, condos & an 18 hole golf course. There are bikes available for use (included), so it took us 2 mornings to bike around the whole property & see everything. While biking, we saw Howler monkeys, turkey vultures, and of course, iguanas & coati. Other morning activities were beach yoga (I was the only one who showed up, so private class on the beach for me!), sea kayaking, boogie boarding, snorkeling, wine/tequila/coffee tasting, Spanish lessons & a very long beach to walk down to the next town over (Brasilito). Afternoons we spent poolside, relaxing, reading, swimming & drinking mojitos. Mmmm! DRINKS I think the resort specializes in mojitos. They have about 10 different flavours, all made with fresh ingredients. For example, a berry mojito is muddled mint leaves & a few real berries, along with the liquor. Very tasty! My favourite mojitos were Berry, Passionfruit & Ginger. Cerveza is Imperial, which is a nice light beer, perfect in hot weather. Royal Service gets access to all the premium brand alcohols, so my husband was in heaven with JD & Cokes!
RESORT GROUNDS BEAUTIFUL! We loved that it was so large & expansive. I see a lot of people complaining about this, but this is something that made it more amazing than other resorts for us. We love strolling around the beautiful grounds, looking for birds, animals & reptiles, not to mention smelling the flowers & seeing different vegetation. It is a great way to work off all that food & drinks we consumed all week too. Staff are constantly at work tending to the gardens, watering the grass, etc. ROOMS Larger than we needed (we had a Royal Beach Room), with a King bed, sitting area, TV area, cupboards, giant bathroom (Mmm - loved the rainshower!) & perfect sized balcony overlooking the pool. I would suggest making sure you get a Royal Service room overlooking the pool, as it is very beautiful. The alternative is either over-looking the kids activity area or trees & other bungalows."
Reviewer: reviewer7964
Date: Mar. 01, 2012
Rating: "This place is fabulous!! Great food, great room. Really nice staff. Also, the pool is fantastic. We normally like beaches, but this pool was perfect. The only thing that was a little gross was the continental breakfast, where the food was out in the open and the birds were attacking. It was our only option one morning, when we had to leave for an early day tour. No problems though, because you can just as easily get room service if you need to leave before the main buffet opens. We had a great vacation!!"
Reviewer: m_phansalker464
Date: Feb. 02, 2009
Rating: "The facilities, the staff, the food and the activities were all fabulous! I have no problem recommending this hotel."
Reviewer: Anonymous [via Escapes.ca]
Date: Dec. 27, 2007
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Reviewer: Anonymous [via Escapes.ca]
Date: Jun. 28, 2007
Rating: Reviewer: Anonymous [via Escapes.ca]
Date: Feb. 03, 2007
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Reviewer: Anonymous [via Escapes.ca]
Date: Jan. 15, 2007
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Reviewer: Anonymous [via Escapes.ca]
Date: Oct. 02, 2006
Rating: Reviewer: Anonymous [via Escapes.ca]
Date: Mar. 27, 2006
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